4 Essential Laundry Tips For Rainy Days

Five useful ideas to make sure your washing gets done and looks fresh and fabulous, even when the weather stops you getting outside.

1. Prioritise

You can only do as many washes as your drying racks will accommodate so when the weather is less reliable, remind the whole family to think twice before throwing a barely worn item in the laundry.

TIP In winter put an extra laundry basket in the bathroom where those super urgent clothes go – that smart shirt for a meeting or PE kit needed for school. This way you can make sure essential washes get done.

2. Prep clothes to save time

Before the wash goes in, do up zips and unravel scrunched up sleeves and trouser legs – you’ll find this reduces how tangled everything is at the end of the wash and it means you spend less time loading up the clothes horse.

TIP As you hang up each item, hold it in both hands and give it one good flick to reduce wrinkles. In many cases this can cut out the need for any ironing at all.

3. Tumble dry wisely

Dryers use a lot of power; regular use through a year can amount to as much as half your total electricity consumption. If you must use a dryer, fill it to the maximum capacity the manual recommends – overload it and it won’t dry, underfill it and there’s less contents to tumble against each other so it takes longer to dry.

TIP Add a small, clean colourfast towel to the dryer when drying heavy, wet items, as this will help absorb some of their water and the job will be done more quickly.

4. Hanging to dry indoors

Avoid the temptation to put damp clothes directly onto radiators as this causes excessive moisture, which can increase the risk of mould spores and dust mite growth and consequently be bad for asthma and allergy sufferers. Instead, put clothes on proper dryers and have the windows open for ventilation.

Now that you are have your laundry tips for monsoon in place, check out this list of 5 essential rainy season accessories here.